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The Doctor
"Hello, I'm the Doctor!" Those are some of the scariest words in the English language. If you were ever to hear them as an introduction to a slightly disheveled, usually out of breath man accompanied by a relatively attractive young woman, it would mean trouble. LOTS of trouble. Like planet destroying trouble. The Doctor is almost the complete opposite of The Master NPC archetype. While the Master assists the players occasionnaly and looks on them from a distance, the Doctor is in the thick of the action, usually driving it or driving his allies to it. He is basically an extremely genre-savvy, knowledgeable and powerful entity which surrounds himself with worhty acolytes to accomplish a wide variety of tasks, most of them being incredibly dangerous and/or deadly to the said acolytes. The Doctor is not meant to be a PC in any way, shape or form. He should not have attributes, skills or abilities, other than large outlines to dictate his abilties and powers, and he should be more or less "immortal" (the eponymous character of this NPC type is the best example of this). The players are, at least when they first meet the Doctor, meant to regard him with awe and even terror at time, and while he can be lovable, he is driven by a desire that outweighs "regular motivations" characters can have. As a character, The Doctor has to be mysterious to a point and not easily understood by the players, other than his wish to "do good". How to use this type of NPC The Doctor is a very strange type of NPC, a NPC most game masters would strongly shun using in their games for fear of falling in the "GMPC" archetypes which is almost universally hated by players. The first role of The Doctor is to drive the players forward in a world that they might not be fully aware of or fully understand, giving them hints, tips and survival tricks, but also introducing "his old enemies", that he will need the acolytes help to fight back, and situations that "only I can fix", always with the help of his trusty sidekicks. The Doctor serves both as a Quest Giver and as a Trusty Companion, but it is important to remember that the players are the stars of the show in a game. Your Doctor is there to drive the players forward and to action, and even if he is the one to have the final laugh over a foe or to save the city from certain doom, the players have to feel that it is because THEY were there to help him. One fun theme to use if you are using this type of NPC is the one of having the players try to uncover the secrets of The Doctor through their adventures with him, digging out the mysteries one by one and uncovering his darker (or lighter) side over time and fleshing him out as a character while the players also flesh out their own characters in opposition to his. Example of this character The Doctor (Doctor Who): Eponymous of this type of NPC. Sakata Gintoki (Gintama): While Gintoki is not ALWAY a Doctor-like character, in multiple arcs in the series, he could be viewed as such, with his supernatural abilities and almost out of place knowledge. Space Captain Harlock (Various series): Again, Harlock cannot ALWAYS be regarded as a Doctor-like character, but in many arcs and appearances, his moral qualities and abilities make him an exemplary leader that cannot really be faulted. Gregory House (House, M.D.): Another "doctor" that can be viewed as this type of character, House would not be regarded as a playable character in a game, while his team of experts would easily represent the players that are supporting him. Category:Ruleset Category:NPC templates